there are certain things that president obama's done i'm deeply disappointed in. i'll just leave it at that. >> sean: and that is all the time we have left this evening. as always, thank you for being with us. let not your heart be troubled. greta is next to go "on the record." see you tomorrow night. thanks for being with us. >> greta: tonight are they will the real deal or bad actors? >> the fiscal cliff is theatre, nothing more and nothing less. it's a game of political chicken, folks. it will result in a winner and a loser. >> our ultimate goal is an agreement that gets our long-term deficit under control in a way that is fair and balanced. >> if the president really wants to reach an agreement, he needs to be talking with members of his own party, right here in washington, trying to broker an agreement. not out there firing up crowds and giving speeches. >> we all know that we've had this spending crisis coming at

us like a freight train. and it has to be dealt with. in order to try to come to an agreement, republicans are willing to cut revenue on the table, but it's time for the president and democrats to get serious about the spending problem that our country has. >> but the point is, there is no economic growth being discussed in the fiscal cliff argument, the solution -- there is no economic growth. not possible with what's being proposed. in fact just the exact opposite. obama does not care about economic growth. he cares about wealth transfers, redistribution. >> it's obvious that he's going to have to stand behind some significant changes in entitlements, and i think what they're asking him is what is your plan? >> there has to be an agreement. there has to be an agreement, i believe, that everybody knows what the possibilities are, so let's just do it. >> the work has to be done. that work is being done.

everybody needs to, as the president said, agree to the principle, that compromise will require tough choices by each side. >> we have done our part. we have put revenues on the table, something that we didn't do two years ago during the debt ceiling negotiations. >> i am ready and able and willing and excited to go ahead and get this issue resolved in a bipartisan fashion, so that american families, american businesses, have some certainty going into next year. >> this is not -- the fiscal cliff is not about long-term solutions to anything. the fiscal cliff is not about solutions, period, not real solutions. what we have here is political gamesmanship. >> greta: tonight republicans have a sizzling question for president obama, what is his plan? senator john cornyn putting that message into a video.

♪ >> greta: senator ron johnson sits on the budget committee. he joins us. how you doing, sir? >> very well. >> greta: before i ask you what you understand to be the president's plan, the republicans put the revenues on the table. where do you get those revenues? >> first of all, a number of republicans said they're willing to consider that if they see the other half of the president's promised balanced approach. you know, where is he going to start restrained growth in government? we're open to working with anybody who's willing to acknowledge the problem. >> greta: who's going to blink first? >> first of all, let me tell you where you should get revenue. >> greta: okay. >> by growing the economy. just a couple numbers. already in this meager economic

recovery, we've increased revenue to the federal government by $344 billion. if we just return to a normal economy, like we had in 2007, under president bush, where proven was 18.5% of our economy, that would raise another $400 billion per year. the president's proposal right now, the highest estimated is $75 billion, a tenth of that. economic growth is 10 finals more effective at raising revenue. the problem with punishing success, the problem with the president's proposal, it will put that economic growth at risk. you know, i think the best question really is, what is the president's plan? show us your plan. this is about returning confidence to the economy. >> greta: a plan to rev up the economy or a plan for spending cuts? >> a plan for reducing the deficit which actually would return certainty to the economy, restore confidence, which would help economic growth. punishing success will not do that. temporary tax increases don't do that as well. >> greta: it's interesting,

almost seems like a game of chicken to see who's going to blink first. i listen to what you say, and i understand it, i understand the broad principles, but i don't have the nuts and bolts of it. and i hear the president say he's ready, willing and excited to have bipartisanship, but i don't know what his plan is either. >> again, his budgets, four budgets, yet to propose a solution to save social security or medicare. can't even get democrats or house senators to vote for his plan. we haven't seen his plan. that's a real tragedy. the president, it's incumbent on him. he won, time for him to govern, show the american people his balanced plan. he talked about it all the time. we know where he wants to increase revenue. he raised revenue about $75 billion, but where's he going to get the other 93% of deficit reduction? really what is his plan for restoring growth to the economy? miserable economic growths under

his policies. >> greta: we're running out of time. i'm hard on both sides of the aisle on this, because they've known about this problem since july or august of last year, not six months ago, but of 2011. >> there was a bipartisan plan to save medicare. we've passed cut, cap and balance. we voted for things. the american people know where we stand. it's time for the president to put forward his plan. >> greta: i understand that. i'm harsher on him for not having a plan at all, but part of leadership on both sides of the isle, yo aisle, you know thr side is a problem, i know he hasn't put his budget up, and harry reid pocket vetoes everything, won't put a budget on the floor, i got that, but still as a leader you have to figure out a way to solve this problem, to get him to get a plan, to work out a solution. it's not just enough, i did my work, and i'm walking away. >> he's the president. he has to lead. >> greta: i agree with you! >> i've been in business when you negotiate with somebody in good faith. i know what that feels like.

this president is just moving the goal post. now saying you got to increase the debt ceiling on top of this, talking about a second round of reform that's going to, again, increase taxes, make you pay more. i mean, he keeps moving the goal post. now the democrats are saying entitlement reform is off the table. >> greta: senator harry reid says the debt ceiling has to be part of it. it's too late to talk about that. it will hit the end of december, have an impact in february, when they hope to get tax refunds, and the government has no money. is there any way that you would vote to raise the debt ceiling? >> no. listen, what i would do, i'm not going to block it. what we need to do, is we need to restore confidence, remove the uncertainty in this economy. >> greta: what would you do? >> what i would do personally? >> greta: yes. >> democrats, last time we passed cut, cap and balance, which did increase the debt ceiling, but it had solutions to the problem. you know, a balanced budget

amendment, limiting the sizes of government, and cut some spending. that was a valid -- that was a good plan. also increased the debt ceiling. we should do the same thing this time. democrats won't go along with it. i recognize that. i recommend we don't block them. we say, okay, you guys can increase the debt ceiling, but no more than a trillion dollars, no more revenue increase. what is your plan for reducing the deficit if you're going to increase the debt ceiling? >> greta: then we'll have the discussion when we hit the next debt ceiling, the same discussion. >> and greta, we should. if we're going to continue to incur debt, pile it on the backs of our children and grandchildren, there should be a plan attached to that for limiting the growth of government, because we have a spending problem in this country. again, president obama said he's going to raise taxes by $75 billion. the deficit is large. where's the rest of his plan? he has to show us his plan.

house members would like to extend all current tax rates permanently. that brings certainly the to the economy. get a subsequent bill for the sequestration. work with president obama in a good faith effort to get pro growth tax reform. that would work. we've got the ryan budget that spends $7 trillion less than the president's budget. that would restore the confidence that the economy needs. >> greta: senator, thank you. >> thank you. >> greta: with time running out, you would think that president obama would call the house and senate leaders and ask them to the oval office, but apparently something is wrong with the white house phones. he's trying to outsource the job to you. take a look. >> i'm asking americans all across the country to make your voice heard. tell members of congress what a $2,000 tax hike would mean to you. call your members of congress, write them an email, post it on their facebook walls. you can tweet it using the

#my2k. >> greta: why doesn't the president pick up the phone and call john boehner and harry reid? isn't what they're paid for you? sir, you've been quoted as saying we need to cut more spending, but do it in a smart with a that keeps our economy growing. what's a smart way? >> a not smart way to do it is to cut medical research, cut law enforcement. a lot of these proposals over the last couple years by the republicans in the house and senate makes those kinds of cuts. that doesn't make any sense. >> greta: what's a smart w cut d in 2011. we came together in the debate about the debt ceiling and rhode islanandreduced spending by alma trillion dollars. the problem right now is that we have an opportunity right now -- the house should do this -- to pass the tax cut that we passed

in the senate. you take care of making sure that middle income families have their tax rates in place. you can settle that question as soon as the -- >> greta: let me stop you there. as i understand it, if that's done, let's say that the tax rates only go up on those who make $250,000 or more per year, i'm told that the amount of revenue for that would satisfy paying for the federal government for about eight days. is that abouteright? >> i don't know good that number is accurate. >> greta: let's say 10 days. >> if we do that, if we have middle income tax rates stay where they are now, which they should, i think both parties agree. it passed the senate. if you do that -- >> greta: i just want to -- >> if we do that, the middle-class will have certainty not just going into the holidays, but the near. numbenewnew year.one way to gett

is make sure we have some new revenue, in addition to spending cuts. >> greta: here's the reason why i asked you about the tax. if you're only going to pay eight or 10 days from the revenue, i'm for the sure what the point is, because structurally you haven't changed the structure. still the same spending, the economy is still in trouble, and the people who make that money contribute a lot to job growth in this country. you bite your nose off to spite your face. i'm not sure why you wouldn't rather leave the revenue in the system heapinsystem heaping gene revenue. what does that do? >> it gusts you some revenue. the best thing we can do right now, greta, is make sure that middle income families have the certainty. they grow the economy, it's not the top two. >> greta: here's the problem. if you only focus on the middle

class, you also are neglecting the very poor people who actually need a lot of help. as they expand, because they don't get the help they need, you expand entitlements. that's another problem you have. >> here's how you help everybody, i believe, is to make sure the economy is growing. the best way to do that is make sure we put in place strategies that have already worked. the payroll tax cut we should reinstitute for this year. that created 400,000 jobs this year. that's number one. number two -- i was a leader on the senate, glad we got it done. we should do it again. secondly, a tax credit for employers when they hire. there should be afternoon incentivbe an incentive forhiri. we have to take steps to grow the economy. >> greta: do you disagree people that make more than $250,000 a

year are job creators? i think that -- >> greta: to pay for eight days, the risk of getting eight days of funding, or ten, is it worth the risk that it might hurt the job creation? >> i think the data shows it over ten, that the engine of the economy is the middle class. if we keep the rates the same, cut their payroll taxes, if we give incentives to grow the economy, we'll be better off. i think a lot of people with tremendous wealth that understand we have not only a deficit but a long-term debt problem. ones i talk to in pens are ready, willing and able to contribute. they say to us, you guys have to work together. i'll be glad to pitch in to reduce the deficit if you guys work together and if you rise spending. i think we got to do both. >> greta: i think a lot more people might be willing, but they see so much unbelievable waste and fraud in the government that it's hard to want to pay another dime when your attention isn't on waste and fraud.

the government is replete with waste and fraud. part of the culture, it's not just a spending cultures, it's a waste and fraud culture. you guys don't even look in your own backyard. >> i was the auditor general in pennsylvania for eight years, the watchdog. i rooted out a lot of waste and fraud. >> greta: do you agree with me? >> absolutely there is. it's been under democrats and republicans. >> greta: both. >> in order to build what we need to build -- >> greta: why don't you start there? show good faith to the american people that you really car. >> the gao almost every couple of years have produced a report that said we could save between $100 billion and $200 billion. let's say it with a off. >> greta: i have that report on my desk. every single year you ignore it except for senator tom coburn. >> shame on both parties. >> greta: i'm not kidding. it's disgraceful. >> you need income from upper income folks, but you have to

root out waste and fraud, you have to grow the economy, and over time we can come together. i know we can do this. we did it on discretionary spending. it was very tough, a lot of cuts. we can bring the parties together. number one thing i heard when i was running this year, work together and create jobs. >> greta: senator, thank you. straight ahead, it looks like an action movie but a real-life drama. halle berry's ongoing custody fight turning into an all-out fight. a new report from los angeles is here. and senator john mccain is here, met with susan rice, and asked her why she went on the sunday shows instead of secretary of state hillary clinton. wait till you hear the reason why. plus, are you willing to get really, really rich? the $500 million powerball is

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>> greta: new fireworks in a hollywood custody fight turned custody brawl. actress halle berry's battle with her ex over their 4-year-old heating up and turning violent. berry's ex-boyfriend and her fiance getting into a brutal, ugly fistfight on thanksgiving day. the pictures prove just how brutal it got. now berry's ex could face criminal charges. ken baker is live in l.a. with the latest. ken, what in the world happened on thanksgiving day? >> well, we're used to ugly custody battles in hollywood. it happens all the time. but this really did take a violent turn. it was on thanksgiving morning when halle berry's ex, her ex-boyfriend, gabriel aubrey,

the father of their 4-year-old daughter nayla, had to return their daughter back to halle berry in the wh hollywood hillsr the holiday. when he was doing the handoff to a housekeeper in the driveway, allegedly what happened with halle's current boyfriend confronted him, and ther caution tooan analtercation took place. he took an old-fashioned beating in the driveway. he ended up himself getting arrested for misdemeanor battery. had to post $20,000 bail. then on monday, he had a temporary restraining order placed on her boyfriend. he provided photographs and some very graphic depictions of him having his head beaten, slammed into the driveway. he claims that olivier martinez threatened to kill him.

it's gotten ugly. the sad part, this has landed in family court, because halle berry doesn't want gabriel aubrey to be around their daughter, filing an emergency protection order saying he can't be around her. tomorrow in court, in los angeles, we'll all be there, because there's going to be a showdown. we expect that halle berry may be there, as well as gabriel aubrey, and a judge will weigh in on whether or not he can see his daughter. >> greta: what caught my attention, ken, the ex-boyfriend, the father, brings the child home. he's supposed to hand her off to a nanny or housekeeper. you say the new boyfriend confronted him. why in the world was he outside or even part of this? obviously the whole part of the handoff, i assume it was deliberate, to have a neutral party. what do you mean confronted? did he say something insulting to the father of the child? how did that start? >> the quick back story, early

in november a judge ruled -- in fact, it's going to be the same judge that they'll see in family court tomorrow -- ruled that halle berry could not move to france and retain custody at the same time. she wanted to move france with this new boyfriend. she spent allegedly $3 million -- that's what was being claimed -- on trying to get herself to be allowed to leave the country with her daughter. the judge said, you can leave, but you lose 50% custody that you have now. apparently there was a huge fight behind the scenes about this when halle berry lost the fight. that was the ugliness about it. as far as what happened in the driveway, according to gabriel aubrey's declaration, which he provided when he asked for a temporary restraining order against olivier martinez, he claims martinez confronted him and basically said, i don't like you, i don't want you around. if you come around here again, i'm going to kill you. it turned really ugly really fast. gabriel aubrey says it was

unprovoked. olivier martinez has said, allegedly, that gabriel aubrey provoked him. so i think the judge is going to try to figure out exactly what happened. whether or not this child is safe in any of their hands, greta. >> greta: i'm the last word, look, i don't care tha i don't t $3 million figure. i mean, i believe you, but this is obviously a tortured and troubled situation. i'm sure there will be an update. thank you, ken. >> thanks. >> greta: up next, senator john mccain met with ambassador susasusan rice. that's coming up. also you've seen senator jan brewer take on president obama. now he's going at him again. what's she doing this time? the latest on this breaking news is next.

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>> greta: this is a fox news alert. republican governor jan brewer budget her finger in the

president's face again. you'll remember this photo of governor brewer on the tarmac with president obama, and now she's doing it again, but figuratively. governor brewer declaring the state of arizona will not create a state-run health insurance exchange. governor brewer has been an outspoken critic of president obama and his healthcare law, and tonight, in a letter to the obama administration, governor brewer saying there are too many costs and unanswered questions with the state-run exchanges. that means the federal government will have to set up the exchange for arizona. states have until december 14th to announce whether they will run their own exchanges. we'll keep you posted about the other states. and for weeks and weeks, "on the record" has been trying toh3 get to the bottom of what happened in be benghazi.

senator john mccain had the first meeting with ambassador rice. we spoke with him a short time ago. senator, nice to see you. >> thank you, gret greta. >> greta: today the president obama told her he couldn't be prouder of her job, and rest of the exhibi exhibit exhibicabine. do you agree? >> no, i don't. the handling of the benghazi tragedy that took the lives of four americans is to me -- raises many, many questions about her qualifications to be the secretary of state. >> greta: you met with her yesterday. how long did you have with her? >> i think it was well over an hour that we spent. many of the questions that we have were not answered. there was other questions, for example, i asked her why -- why

on the nationwide shows on sunday she said that the president has killed osama bin laden and decimated al-qaeda. that's simply a false statement. al-qaeda is on the rise. they've reconstituted themselves in many places. they're all over the middle east, including pouring into syria as we speak, as well as libya, iraq, etc. >> greta: what did she say? >> she said, well, maybe i should have said core, that we have decimated core al-qaeda. well, first of all, that's a directly vastly different from what she actually said. number two is that really is kind of meaningless to take out core al-qaeda. but again, i want to emphasize many of these questions are right at the doorstep of the president of the united states. why did he on the 25th, two weeks later, talk to the united nations about hateful videos?

why is he that he told "60 minutes" that he did not know what was the cause of the attack on benghazi when he claimed in the debate with mitt romney that he had called it a terrorist act at the white house, which he had not done so. he continued to go on various shows talking about hateful videos and not knowing -- >> greta: entertainment shows i might add. for the most part entertainment shows. all right. in terms of what she did tell you -- i saw a cbs reported that i posted on gretawire.com under the headline on who's on first, which can no one decide who took out al-qaeda, some have claimed responsibility, then denied. it's the most bizarre thing. >> the most interesting thing about that, after the raid that took out bin laden we knew every single detail, as you know, within 24 hours, absolute total details, many of which placed

people's lives in jeopardy, such as the doctor now in prison for life, and others. here we are, 10 or 11 weeks later and we still don't know the basics of what happened. by the way, i'm still looking for that picture of the president in the situation room with his cabinet watching the raid on the consulate in benghazi. i don't think we'll see that anytime soon. >> greta: what i didn't understand, though, and maybe you asked her, it just isn't in the reports, the discussions about who took out al-qaeda, who put it back in. one thing i didn't get, where did she come up with the idea of video and there were protests? was that in the talking points, or did that come from some other source, or did she say? >> she said that was in the talking points. the classified information that they had indicated it was an al-qaeda affiliated attack. they did not want to put the classified information into the

unclassified talking points, which painted a vastly different picture. are we supposed to give americans the wrong information because we don't want to reveal clasclassified information? that's just crazy. >> greta: why was she the one sent out to go to the five talk shows, not the secretary of state hillary clinton? >> she reported to us that secretary clinton was tired. i understand why secretary clinton might be tired, but that's still, the president himself said that ambassador rice had nothing to do with benghazi. and again, just a short time ago as our meeting, the director of the cia told us that the changes in these talking points had come from the fbi, and then called us back a number of hours later and said, no, it was done by the cia. do you mean that all these weeks later they still don't know who made the changes in the talking points? and why is that important?

because the impression that the american people got from ambassador rice's comments, that this was a spontaneous demonstration, triggered by a hateful video, that was not true. finally, by the way, after our meeting, ambassador rice admitted for the first time that that was not true. so it -- >> greta: why didn't she admit that six weeks ago? that's what i don't understand. you have to pull every single detail out of it. she should have said that six weeks ago. why not say it publicly? why is it behind closed doors with senators? >> we still don't who made the changes in the talking points. i asked the director of the cia how many analysts are there in the cia. i don't think this is classified. he said 2,500. now, wouldn't you think that one of those analysts would have said, hey, let's call germany where the survivors of the consulate attack have been taken and ask them, was this a

spontaneous attack or not? that would have taken care of the whole issue, because they would have said what they did tell the fbi, that there was no mob attack or spontaneous attack there. so all of this could have been resolved with one phone call. i asked the director of the cia, why didn't someone call. he said, because the fbi was conducting a criminal investigation. now, is that reason not to ask the survivors of the attack on the consulate? >> greta: the fbi wasn't even over there investigating the tunisian man in tunisian custody, so it's hard to think the fbi was aggressively investigating this. i've said many times, if there were four dead people in washington, d.c., they'd have more aggressive investigation by the d.c. metropolitan police department. >> and a cnn reporter weeks later visited the consulate and found classified information. >> greta: so did foreignpolicy.com on october 26th, almost two months later. >> the whole thing deserves a select committee.

we now have four committees in the house, four committees in the senate, all of which are investigating certain aspects, which are clearly overlapping of this whole investigation. that's one of the reasons why we get conflicting stories. so it really does -- you know, watergate was a break-in. when senator lieberman and first proposed a commission after 9/11, there was great resistance to it because of turf battles within the congress. but this certainly warrants a full and complete investigation by a select committee in my view. >> greta: one quick question. senator feinstein commissioned a study to close get mow, the 70 or so get mow prisoners could be brought here to the united states, and apparently the report is they could be brought to the united states and put in different facilities. do you have any objection to that? >> yes, i have great objection to it. it also would be in violation of legislation that the congress passed. it's basically an assertion of

the executive authority violating existing laws. >> greta: we can expect that will be hotly contested? >> i think it would be very hotly contested. by the way, an example of the deterioration in iraq, a guy who was responsible for a very sophisticated operation that executed five american soldiers, was in prison in baghdad, just released. went back to lebanon where he's one of the hezbollah leaders. >> greta: that just happened last week. >> yep. >> greta: senator, thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> greta: coming up, income redistribution, is it at the top of the agenda for president obama's second term? some liberals say yes, it is. our panel talks about that. first it was clearly sheen, then "two and a half men" angus jones went on a rabbit of his own show. now another star of a popular sitcom is doing it too. which star and which show? that's two minutes away.

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>> greta: it is the video everyone is talking about. actor angus jones following in charlie sheen's footsteps ranting against his own show "two and a half men." now other stars getting into the act. >> you know, if you're watching "the view" right now, i want you to stop watching it, because this is filth, this show. i mean, i'm on the show. i don't want to be on the show, but i want you to stop watching because it's filth. >> what are you doing? >> a cold open. >> greta: and ray olson who plays dwight on "the office" did his own spoof. >> dwight from "the office" is nothing, okay? the office is nothing. all right? if you watch "the office" please don't watch "the office." i'm on "the office." it's filth. okay? that filth will rot your brain. >> greta: who do you like better? go to gretawire.com to see themu

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>> greta: our new income redistribution program in our future in 60 seconds, but first our headlines. >> a vote is expected at the united nations tomorrow to recognize the palestinian state. palestinians expect at least 2/3 of the 193 member states in the general assembly will support them. passage would grant only limited statehood. the u.s. and israel have tried to block the recognition, saying it's an attempt to block

israeli/palestinian negotiations which broke down four years ago. everybody is talking about tonight's big powerball drawings. the big numbers will be announced minutes from now. the jackpot stands at $550 million now, the second largest in u.s. history. powerball officials say there's a 75% chance that someone will have the winning numbers. so get your tickets out. do not change the channel, because greta will have the winning numbers as soon as they are drawn. two words. office pool. back to "on the record." >> greta: alarms are going off among some conservatives in president obama's second term, his liberal supporters are calling for income redistribution. who's doing that and how do they hope to make that happen and can they? byron york just wrote about that, along with the rest of our political panel. byron, you wrote the article.

>> there's been a lot of talk during the campaign that president obama didn't have much of a second term agenda, that he just wanted to raise taxes, didn't have a lot else he wanted to do other than protect the accomplishments of the first administration. but his liberal supporters do have a second term agenda they would like to see accomplished, and there's a whole bunch of things. first they want obamacare to be turned into a federal sing pair system. tom harkin, liberal democratic senator, called obamacare a, quote, starter home. they want to expand it, make it bigger. they want to increase the earned income tax credit. some would like to see the old liberal dream of a guaranteed income, in which everybody in the whole united states would have a guaranteed income. they believe that this is a time when you have a liberal democratic president who's not only been elected, but re-elected, the time to get some stuff done in their direction. they think after obamacare, where next for the welfare

state? >> john, have any sort of am -- does this have any sort of ammunition? >> i don't think the welfare state getting bigger for two reasons in obama's term. one reason is we're out of money. spent $2 trillion on obamacare. people see greece, the european crisis going on right now, and there's so much pressure to cut spending, i can't imagine a really big even new entitlements, you know, a new ira required on top of social security. i couldn't see that happening. with that said, a lot of subsequentiaconsconveniential.se huge. he'll have a lot of opportunities to move the progressive football down the field, but i don't see any of these -- any of these dreams coming to fruition unless the

republican house is defeated in two years, paving the way for bigger plans. >> greta: john, do you see the disappointment that the president will have with liberal supporters that want this? >> one thing democrats will be encouraged by when you look at big entitle programs in the past, like social security and medicare, they've really grown over time. they started out with a small concentrated base, and through acts of congress, they became increasingly popular and more and more people started demanding access to these services. for liberal democrats, they hope that's what obamacare is going to be. >> greta: we got to pay for it, though. that remains a problem. >> yes. you saw the fight over the president's healthcare package in the last election, two years before that, and they'll try to hold the line on that. >> greta: and still fighting over obamacare. we've talked about this the last couple nights. >> the bill is most likely to get through, number one that president obama wants,

immigration, there's a chance that could pass, a deficit deal, but i don't see the. right now too e anything. we'll see. >> greta: stand by, panel. straight ahead, you have to hear what taxpayers in one city are paying for. get ready for this one. plastic surgery for public school employees. yes, you did hear right. that's next. coming up, the moment you've all been waiting for. the winning powerball numbers will be drawn. $550 million at stake. you will see the winning numbers right here. stay tuned. maybe you have the winning numbers. maybe i do. meet the 5-passenger ford c-max hybrid. when you're carrying a lot of weight, c-max has a nice little trait, you see, c-max helps you load your freight, with its foot-activated lift gate. but that's not all you'll see, cause c-max also beats prius v, with better mpg. say hi to the all-new 47 combined mpg c-max hybrid.

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>> greta: wait till you hear this one. taxpayers in buffalo, new york, are paying for plastic surgery for public school employees. that is right. tax dollars, tax dollars, tax dollars, are being spent on facelifts and liposuction for teachers. the total bill this past year, ready for this? $2.7 million. now that is down from the year before, which was $5.2 million. how does this happen? well, it turns outs the perk is included as a ride he were in the teachers' contract, and that's raising big questions about unions and collective bargaining. we're back with our political panel. this is byron york's favorite story of the night. byron? >> this story blew my mind. it goes back to a contract that was ratified in the 1970s,

when unions were getting about everything they wanted. the schools were giving unions everything they wanted. and plastic surgery was not as common at the time. what's happened is, it stayed in the contract, and teachers began, and employees began, using it more. now they haven't had a new contract since 2004, but there's in new york state law that allows unions to keep going with the contract that's -- even if it's expired, so there's no incentive for anybody to negotiate a new one. so the union gets perks like plastic surgery, a 2.5% annual pay increase locked in there forever and ever, and they don't have to renegotiate because of this law. >> greta: and we wonder why we're running out of money. >> yeah. the most outrageous part to me was -- >> greta: that wasn't it? >> the union was offered -- they

said they want to get rid of this clause, because they realize it's a public disaster. the state said we'll save 100 teachers jobs if you get rid of this benefit, and they turned them down. i don't understand how you can be a member of that union and see 100 union members lose their job, and say, no, it's important to protect this facelift freebie. >> greta: let's repeat, this is taxpayer money. this is how insane this is. this is isn't to educate children. >> this is the problem with collective bargaining rates. give us benefits, don't just touch our collective bargaining rights. no one wants to take anybody's rights, the right to bargain or negotiate anything, but it means the right to veto changes to benefits. we saw it in wisconsin. that's why scott walker had to take on collective bargaining rights first, make the changes to the benefits, because you saw this play out in school districts, where walker's reforms took effect, they were able to balance the budget, make changes to healthcare plans,

like a $10k10 copay, and make people may into their retirement funds. some schools locked into the bargaining agreements before the walker law took effect and kept on going. maybe it wasn't plastic surgery, but you're seeing teachers getting fired instead of making benefit reductions. >> greta: it isn't just plastic surgery, but it's airline travel, expensive hotels, limousine. i mean, this is quite a school district to work for. >> and it was $9 million for plastic surgery a few years ago. by the way, there is no copay. i mean, you have this operation and don't pay anything. >> greta: i don't understand why everybody isn't up in arms. i mean, why just now? you would have thought when it was $9 million they'd be angry about it. >> you'd need a political system that's in the mood, that scott walker and republicans were in in wisconsin. this is why scott walker was

born, to do anything like this. they don't have anyone like that in new york. >> greta: you can either educate a kid or pay $9 million so teachers look good. >> a republican would say, this shows you the whole system needs to be thrown out and rebuilt. a democrat might say, well, of course this is in excess, we need to fix that, keep the system intact. that's where the political fight comes in. >> greta: if you live in buffalo, new york, your tax aren't spent on your kid's education necessarily. panel, thank you. coming up, what we've been waiting for. a $550 million jackpot. the powerball drawing is minutes away. you'll see the winning numbers right here. that's next. 's hard to see oppoy in today's challenging environment. unless you have the right perspective. bny mellon wealth management has the vision and experience to look beyond the obvious. we'll uncover opportunities, find hidden risk,

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>> greta: it's happening. we are just seconds from tonight's $550 million power ball drawing. up until the last minute, hopeful people across the country are rushing to buy tickets. lottery officials say tickets are selling at a rate of 160,000 tickets per minute. but $550 million jackpot is the second largest in u.s. history so how did it get this high? the numbers are coming in. first one is a five. that is a good number. any of you have five? second one is 23. five, then 23. get ready. 16.